Who's That Girl

WHO'S THAT GIRL: A higher education obsessed foodie who is documenting her life in the kitchen. I love to cook delicious, gourmet-style foods for those I love and always welcome a challenge in the kitchen.
With that challenge comes an impromptu nature. I tend to avoid following recipes to the exact, so you are not likely to find very many posted here. Being that I am a Libra and am learning to be free in the kitchen, the story always goes, "A pinch of this and a smattering of that!"
Thank you for visiting -- and happy reading!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Peach cobbler is one of the few desserts I actually enjoy, but it is often very difficult to find fresh peach cobbler here.

There is nothing like the syrupy, sweet cinammon and slight chew that a perfect cobbler yields. And when the crust is perfectly browned with a tiny bit of char -- brilliant! It is delectable. Lovely. Wholesome. Full.

While home a couple of weeks back, I worked alongside one of my cousins to produce a cobbler from scratch. She worked on the peaches; I worked on the dough.

But I did add some vanilla and brown sugar to the cobbler mix, that and a substantial amount of nutmeg. The smell and flavor were ideal.

The dough looks, quite literally, like Play-Doh, doesn't it? Weird, eh? But, no. No real Play-Doh was utilized in the making of this fun and fancy cobbler. I mean, come on! Look at that cross stitch!

I think it needed more sugar and milk. Being that I am not a baker, I wasn't sure, so I went skimpy. Also, I did not want it to be too sweet. I should have gone against instinct.

But it was still pretty good, and the family polished it off, so that's a complement.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Also, I have been meticulous about my measurements, carefully measuring the rice and the water. I find this to be crucial.

With a timed rice cooker, it makes the cooking process much easier. But as soon as the device beeps, I set to work. I find this also is essential.

I leave the warmer on, but immediately fluff the rice while still in the cooker, trying to remove as much moisture/steam as possible. I then allow it to sit no more than to minutes with the lid up.

I do not have the bamboo bowl and fan, so I use a glazed stoneware bowl. I find that plastic bowls and glass bowls only lead to disasterous results.

I have my rice vinegar prepared with salt and sugar and ready. Immediately before placing the rice in the bowl, I add a little bit of vinegar and swirl it around in the bowl. I then lightly fold the rice in and over itself, using a kind of chopping motion while I add the additional vinegar and blowing on the rice.

Yes, blowing on the rice.

If you are thinking about a circus show at the moment, that may well be what it looks like as I am doing this. But, thank goodness, I have yet to faint while doing this.

As for the ingredients, I have been experimenting with vegetables, panko and shrimp. That's another thing -- I haven't advanced to nigiri or sashimi. It can be difficult to find fresh, reasonably priced sushi-grade cuts in Tucson -- especially sustainable types. But I find that if I toss shrimp into a boiling mixture of soy sauce and mirin, it gives it a nice lovely, sticky-sweet flavor for the rolls. It's a good start at preparing sushi at home for, literally, something like 60 percent less than it would cost to go to a restaurant.

The only thing, though, is I know that it will take at least an hour before I am able to begin rolling the sushi because between cleaning, soaking and cooking the rice, this takes about 45 minutes. But it's well worth it.